Dean Longo was born in New York and currently resides in Yorktown, Va. He received a bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree from George Washington University.

Longo is a retired U.S. Air Force officer who flew classified reconnaissance missions and was a flight instructor.

After leaving the Air Force in 1992, he established his own consulting firm.

Longo has served as chair of the Newport News Human Rights Commission.

Longo and his wife, April, have two children.

Dean Longo hopes to parlay his experience as an Air Force officer to victory in Virginia's 3rd Congressional District, which has a high concentration of active duty and retired military households. The district is also home to Northrop Grumman's shipbuilding operations in Newport News, one of the nation's leading manufacturers of aircraft carriers

A Republican, Longo is making his first run for elective office, challenging 10-term Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott, in 2012. The 3rd District became increasingly Democratic as a result of reapportionment by the General Assembly in 2012.

Longo believes that the health care system needs to be reformed and that the 2010 health care reform bill forces a broken system on people. In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2012 decision upholding the law, Longo said that the decision doesn't solve the health care problem.

"Whether you want to call it an unconstitutional mandate or you want to call it a tax, in the end it's not going to fix very much whatsoever," Longo said.